Originally Posted by Campag4life

I have ridden most of the top brand bikes and my opinion is, there isn't a lot of difference between the top brands in individual categories. As it turns out even within certain genres, like endurance there are slight differences in terms of how the bikes feel and if you dig out each model on the web, you find these characteristics. The biggest difference to me is geometry. But if you don't know a lot about bikes or what fit would work best for you, then these differences aren't going to resonate.
I ride a custom built Roubaix. I ordered the frameset from a shop who had never seen the model I wanted..an SL3 Pro. It is the best bike I have ever owned and I have owned 50 road bikes and probably ridden 500 of all different brands through many different clubs. If there was a better bike out there for me, I would be on it because life is short and you should ride the best bike you can afford if you are passionate about cycling like many are here. So I would say, you sure can't go wrong with a Roubaix, that is for sure.

As to Specialized hate there isn't any shortage of on the web, to me Specialized makes the best bikes in the world. I come from a world of R&D and Specialized R&D is second to none. They hire the best and the brightest and it shows in their bikes which are simply superb.

That said, every single top bike maker makes a great bike...from Giant to Trek to Cervelo and all the great European brands as well. For example in the race bike genre, some believe the new Giant TCR to be the best bike on the planet. Others thing the Spec Tarmac...some the Pinarello Dogma...others the Cervelo R or S5. All these brands have become famous for a reason...they all make great bikes and because of benchmarking, bikes across brands are more equivalent than they ever have. There are no Schwinn's among the top brands because they wouldn't survive...a very competitive industry.